Dec. 8, 2017 – The Citizen Research Council’s director of research, Craig Thiel, teams with Michigan State University Professor Sarah Reckhow in Chalkbeat Detroit to explain how the state’s system for funding special education is flawed and ...

Dec. 5, 2017 – Six years into the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in Michigan, parts of it have been a resounding success, others disappointments. But members of a panel convened by the Citizens Research Council of...

Economic cycles have unpredictable timing, but their inevitability is anything but. We do not know when it will occur, but we can say with certainty that the economy will eventually take a downturn. And when it does, Michigan’s state budget is not ready...

The Citizens Research Council and WDET (Public Radio in Detroit – 101.9 FM) provided an opportunity for listeners and website visitors to pose questions in anticipation of the November 7 election. Listener Chuck Fellows wanted to know why all candid...

Many people expect that the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) will try a second time at the November 2018 election to gain voter approval for a millage to fund rail, bus rapid transit, and other transit services in Southeast Michigan. I am not privy to a...

With his signature in mid-July, Governor Snyder put to bed the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY2018) state budget. Eight years removed from the end of the Great Recession and benefiting from an expanding state economy and projected solid revenue growth, this year’s...

[While some believe healthcare is not an appropriate role for the federal government, the Affordable Care Act, American Healthcare Act, Better Care Reconciliation Act, and other current and past proposals all presume, to varying degrees, an active governm...

Note: This commentary ran in the May 31, 2017, edition of the Detroit Free Press, opinion section. School may be out for summer soon, but for Detroit’s new superintendent the school year starts now. Nikolai Vitti just began his tenure as superintendent ...

Reducing needed care by improving health and/or preventing illness will also ease demand on the number of physicians in the state. Policies that address the social determinants of health may reduce some demand for health services. Relative to other nation...

On May 17, key officials from the House Fiscal Agency, Senate Fiscal Agency, and the Michigan Department of Treasury met for the May 2017 Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference; the latter of two yearly meetings to estimate the state’s economic outlook...